


Winter of Our Disconsent

by mightstill



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2014-05-23
Packaged: 2018-01-26 05:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1676060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mightstill/pseuds/mightstill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated."<br/>-- Poul Anderson</p>
<p>Steve and Bucky have been through a lot. No one understands that better than Natasha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter of Our Disconsent

Clint and Natasha are lounging on the couch. Neither one of them actually live in Stark Tower (despite Stark's insistence that it be called Avengers Tower now, as if that magically makes them one big happy family). Steve moved in shortly after he and Sam found Bucky and convinced him to come home. (Home is New York, Steve decided, thinking it would best help Bucky's recovery.) He would rather have his own place in Brooklyn, but Stark/Avengers Tower is best equipped to keep Bucky safe while S.H.I.E.L.D. is still getting back on its feet and doesn't quite have the resources yet. Tony was apprehensive at first, ("Brainwashed assassin! In my building!") but eventually conceded when he considered the alternative of said assassin being let loose on his city. Steve said _protection_ , Tony said _containment_. They agreed to disagree, but either way Bucky has somewhere to stay.

That's why Natasha's here. She knows Steve only sees his best friend and that Tony only sees a Hydra assassin. Neither are healthy points of view or the entire truth, so she figures it's best to stay in case she needs to diffuse any bombs, figurative or literal. Clint's got his own problems with his building and Kate and the damn Tracksuit Mafia, but Natasha had just got back into town after being away for months and well... There's a reason she keeps an arrow charm around her throat.

Steve and Bucky pass by each other awkwardly and Clint sighs when they're both out of earshot. "I don't get it. They're so fucking tense around each other. And that's the part that makes sense - I mean, Barnes did try to kill Steve. Twice, if I'm not mistaken. Yet one look at them shows that they're clearly batshit in love with each other." He pauses there, waiting for Natasha to interject. When she doesn't, he repeats himself. "I really don't get it."

Natasha's eyes go a little dark and she looks away from Clint, not normally showing that much emotion even to him. "Steve and James have a complicated history. One which has surprisingly nothing to do with the super soldier serum and brainwashing and frozen aspects of their lives." She stops and then shifts to look at him again, speaking softly. "I'm a part of that history, too. I just don't really have any affect on it." She worries a lip between her teeth, knowing she's being far too honest right now, but Clint's more than earned her trust. "I care about them. Steve's become like a brother and James.. well." Clint raises an eyebrow at her but she just elbows him hard in the ribs. "I just want them to..." she stops again, because that time it really is too much. "They'll figure it out, eventually."

Clint nods and pulls Natasha into a more comfortable position. "So then why are we here?" He's not asking, not really. More just saying something to continue his earlier train of thought.

She smirks, and all traces of her emotional openness are safely tucked away again. "Rent free?"


End file.
